A future trip for Frederik and Mary,
The Crown Prince couple to visit Poland - 12-14th May- with a large Danish business delegation.

The goal is to promote Danish export and Danish investments in Poland. The focus is on: Clean Energy, Water and Waste Solutions,
Healthcare and Welfare Technologies, Agro and Food Technologies, Life Style and Design and Defense Technologies.

M&F will accompany a trade delagtion representing some 60 DK businesses. And no less than three ministers will also go there.

The reason is simple: Poland is now the tenth biggest export market for DK, and goods for some 15 billion DKK are exported to Poland. On top of that Poland's economy has been steadily growing. The export is expected to double by 2020.
Poland is also interested in attracting investments and also to change the reputation Poland has. (I.e. being a source of cheap labour, which cost jobs among the locals in both DK and other countries).

BB article telling that F+M will travel tomorrow morning. It only takes about one hour to fly to Poland from Copenhagen.

They will visit both Warsaw and Szczecin where they among other places will visit a hospital and a kindergarten.

On Wednesday Frederik and Mary are, as we know, celebrating their 10 year anniversary. It's their last day on the tour and the couple will at the end of the day fly back to Denmark. Given that it only takes one hour to fly home there's a good chance they can reach home in time to celebrate thei last part of their day in peace.

OFFICIAL PROGRAMME 12-14th May

Monday, May 12

The Crown Prince Couple's program

Official Welcome
10:30am

The Crown Prince Couple arrives at the Presidential Palace and received by HE President Bronislaw Komorowski and Mrs. Anna Komorowska .

The Crown Prince's program

Meeting with Polish President
11:00am

Crown Prince meets with President and Danish and Polish delegation members.

The Crown Princess program

Visits by fredic Chopin Museum
11:00am

The Crown Princess visit with First Lady The Frederic Chopin Museum in Warsaw.

The Crown Prince Couple's program

Wreaths Decommissioning
12:00am

The Crown Prince Couple lay down a wreath at the Unknown Soldier 's Tomb .

Grand Opening at the Copernicus Center
12:30pm

The Crown Prince Couple participates with the President and the Trade and Development Mogens Jensen Grand Opening at the Copernicus Center.
The Crown Prince will hold a speech.

The Crown Prince's program

Biomass seminar
14:00pm
The Crown Prince participates in biomass seminar at the Ministry of Agriculture . The seminar Trade and Development Mogens Jensen talk about Denmark's strategy for renewable energy in rural areas.

E- Health Seminar
15:15pm

The Crown Prince participates with trade and development minister Mogens Jensen in E- Health Seminar in Copernicus Center. During the seminar, the Crown Prince be a rescue by Falck , marking the opening of a new Falck clinic in Warsaw.

The Crown Princess program

Visit to the Danish Cultural Institute
14:15pm

The Crown Princess visit with First Lady the Danish Cultural Institute . During his visit, the Crown Princess and the First Lady will be presented with culture department's staff and operations , as well as Danish-Polish cultural cooperation.

Visit by Danish pop-up shop
15:15pm

The Crown Princess is in charge of opening the Danish pop-up shop in Unia Lebelska Shopping Centre.

The Crown Prince Couple's program

Warsaw Uprising Museum
16:00pm

The Crown Prince visits with trade and development minister Warsaw Uprising Museum. The Crown Couple and Minister during the visit will have a guided tour of the museum .

Dinner with President of Poland
19:00pm

The Crown Prince Couple participates with trade and development minister Mogens Jensen dinner with the President of Poland , as well as representatives of the Danish and Polish companies .

*

Tuesday, May 13

The Crown Prince's program

Breakfast meeting : 20th anniversary of Lantmännen Unibake
09:25am

The Crown Prince participates in the breakfast meeting marking the 20th anniversary of Lantmännen Unibake .

Debate : Energy Efficiency and Smart Cities
10:30am

The Crown Prince is joining forces with the Environment Kirsten Brosbøl in the debate on the efficient use of energy and smart cities in the Polish Ministry of Economy .
The Crown Prince will conduct the official opening of the debate.

Diabetes debate
11:45am

The Crown Prince participates with Health Minister Nick Hækkerup in a diabetic debate on the Danish Embassy .

Museum of History of Polish Jews
12:30pm

The Crown Prince visits the Museum of History of Polish Jews . During his visit, the Crown Prince an introduction to the museum and tour of the exhibition " Warsaw, Warsze " .

Visit the Siekierki CHP
14:10pm

The Crown Prince visits with the Environment Kirsten Brosbøl Siekierki CHP plant , where the Crown Prince and the Minister will be presented with the work.

Business Mixer : Water Seminar
15:00pm

The Crown Prince is joining forces with the Environment Kirsten Brosbøl in Warsaw waterworks in the seminar on smart solutions for water supply in Warsaw waterworks.

Crown Princess program

Seminar on lifestyle diseases and visits to hospital
09:10am

The Crown Princess participates with First Lady in the seminar on lifestyle diseases and visits to ospitalet Samodzielny Publiczny Centralny Szpital Kliniczny . During his visit, the Crown Princess have shown the hospital and meeting diabetic patients.

Visits to kindergarten for children with autism
10:05pm

The Crown Princess visits a kindergarten for children with autism.

Visiting the children film festival
11:00am

The Crown Princess visits a children's film festival. Crown Princess will get a tour and meet children taking part in LEGO and New Horizons Foundations workshop .

Visit at Ole Lynggaard store
11:45am

The Crown Princess visits Ole Lynggaard store.

Roundtable : Public - Private Cooperation
12:15pm

The Crown Princess participates with Health Minister Nick Hækkerup in roundtable on Danish experience in cooperation between the public and private healthcare facilities.
Crown Princess holds a speech.

Conference: Enhancing Quality of Life
14:00pm

The Crown Princess participates with Health Minister Nick Hækkerup the conference on improving the quality of life.

Opening the Audio Design Exhibition
14:45pm

The Crown Princess participates in the opening of Audio Design Exhibition in the Danish ambassador's residence. During the opening, the Crown Princess have shown the exhibition of Bang & Olufsen and Dynaudio .

Visits by Pandora and ECCO stores
15:30pm

The Crown Princess visit Pandora and ECCO stores.

The Crown Prince Couple's program

Business Mixer : Energy
18:15pm

The Crown Prince Couple participates with the Environment Kirsten Brosbøl in energy seminar.

The Ambassador's reception
19:00pm

The Crown Prince Couple participate in the ambassador's reception.
The Crown Prince holds a speech and is responsible for presentation of the Danish Trade Council diploma and HRH Prince Henrik 's Medal of Honour .

The Crown Prince Couple and the delegation traveling from Warsaw to Szczecin.

*

Wednesday, May 14

The Crown Prince Couple's program

Breakfast with representatives from Szczecin city and region
9:30am

The Crown Prince Couple participates with the Environment Kirsten Brosbøl in the breakfast meeting with representatives of the Szczecin city and region. The Crown Prince Couple and Minister of the Environment will be greeted by Stettins mayor.

The Crown Prince's program

Conference: Wind Summit
10:30am

The Crown Prince is joining forces with the Environment Kirsten Brosbøl the conference on wind energy.

Seminar: Waste Management
13:00pm

The Crown Prince is joining forces with the Environment Kirsten Brosbøl seminar on waste management .

The Crown Princess program

Visit at KK Electronics
10:30pm

The Crown Princess visit the company KK Electronics. During her visit, the Crown Princess inspect a presentation of furniture made ​​from recycled materials from the production halls in KK Electronics . In addition, the Crown Princess in charge of opening a new test chamber and meet with company employees .

Visit to Children's Hospital
12:45pm

The Crown Princess visit the oncology department at a children's hospital spoken. Crown Princess will be welcomed by hospital management as well as children.

The old Niels Juel from the 1960's is now a museum ship in Copenhagen: http://www.navalhistory.dk/images/Forsiden/Niju9800.jpg Classified as a frigate, she was really a heavy destroyer and designed to fight Polish, Russian and East German warships, which is why I thought it was a little bit odd to send her to Poland...

Here is one from BB of Mary meeting her local fans and as you can tell one of the signs congratulate M&F on their tenth anniversary.
One of the girls said after meeting Mary: " It was fantastic. A huge experience for us".Kronprinsesse Mary overrasket i Polen | Billed Bladet

https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/...67094844_n.jpg
M&F with one branch of the honor guard. Here it's marines. Being an elite as well as a guards unit, they wear a guards cord around their shoulders.
During the Cold War Polish marines were expected to land at Køge Bay just south of Copenhagen.

There are also Uhlans, in some of the pictures. I hope we'll get better pics of them later on. They are so interesting they simply need a line or two.

- I hope our Polish friends, Zarat & Joanna93 will help us with tidbits.

The old Niels Juel from the 1960's is now a museum ship in Copenhagen: http://www.navalhistory.dk/images/Forsiden/Niju9800.jpg Classified as a frigate, she was really a heavy destroyer and designed to fight Polish, Russian and East German warships, which is why I thought it was a little bit odd to send her to Poland...

Se billederne: Mary og Frederik på polsk | www.bt.dk
The best picture yet of the legendary Polish uhlans.
They are, as you can tell, lancers. When Napoloen first encountered them, he became so excited he recruited a number of regiments (back then known as Polish Lancers), and they distinguished themselves during the Napoleonic Wars.
Being light to medium cavalry issued with lances that outreached any other cavalry weapon, except firearms (and they were hopelessly inaccurate when used form the saddle) they became an extremely feared anti-cavalry weapon.
They were also very useful against infantry squares, once the infantry had fired their muskets and didn't have time to reload. With their lances they could litterally pick off soldiers at the corners of the squares and in that way roll-up an infantry square.

Napoleon made lancers fashionable and soon most major countries in Europe had their own regiments of lancers. In Britain the most famous such regiment, the 17th, "rode into the Valley of Death" at Balaclava. Immortilised by the poem by Tennyson.
Germany or rather Preussia also formed lancer regiments, here known as Uhlans and modelled directly on the Poles, down to the distinctive square headgear.

There had been lancers before the Napoleonic Wars, the most famous being Cossacks, but they were light cavalry and often notorious for poor disclipline, in contrast to the Uhlans.
In countries so far apart as India and Mexico (the Federales) regiments were formed based on Polish Uhlans.

ADDED: Notice the distinctive striped sleeves on three of the uhlans in the picture. They are signalmen and as such wear distictive uniforms, so that their officer can locate them quickly in the confusion of battle.

WWII was full of attrocities, but the uprising in Warsaw 1944 must count among the more serious.

In early autumn 1944 Germany was retreating on all fronts and with the Red Army closing in on Warsaw, the Polish Home Army decided it was time to do a Paris. That is liberating their own capital. Thus ensuring that a Polish government would be in place.
So the Resistance came out, armed with all sort of ad hoc weapons, often under the command of Polish officers who had gone underground. (As you know 30.000 Polish officers were liquidated by Stalin in Katyn). And they formed regular military units, complete with markings. (That means they were protected as combattants under the Geneva Convention). They expected to fight a few days until the Red Army reached Warsaw.
The fighting started and initially the Home Army had a considerable success.
But,... but the Red Army stopped. Just short of Warsaw and stayed there.

Sensing the political aim of Stalin, the German forces, spurred on not least by Hitler and Himmler, set about to crush the uprising. Troops poured into Warsaw, also frontline troops who would otherwise face the Red Army.
Even Though the Poles fought desperately they simply didn't have the resources, ammunition, weapons and organisation to hold back the Germans.
The Western Allies pleaded to Stalin to intervene. He refused. It wasn't possible he said. The Red Army needed time to reorganise... and many excuses. Not even fighter cover was provided, so Luftwaffe was free to bomb Warsaw with impunity.
The Western Allies wanted to supply the Home Army from the air, but the bombers were refused permission to land at Soviet controlled airfields, so the bombers could only carry a very limited load, at great risk, and most of what was dropped ended up in German hands.

In the meantime the uprising was being crushed. Now, fighting in cities takes time and cost a lot of resources and the worst of the worst of German units were send in. Penal battalions, the Kaminsky Brigade, the Dirlewanger Battalion, - people who were too psycopatic even for service in concentration camps. The atrocities they commited are too horrible to write about here. It was so bad that senior Waffen SS generals demanded of Himmler that these units being withdrawn. And they were.
By now, the remnants of the Home Army surrended, being promised to be treated as combattants and they were actually to a large degree. Some managed to slip away - but many of those were later rounded up by Stalin's NKVD. Because Stalin was not the least bit interested in an independent Polish government, let alone a Polish army. His own Communist controlled Polish units within the Red Army were destined to take over that role.
With the uprising crushed it was decided by the Nazis to remove Warsaw from the map. Already reduced to rubble, large parts of the capital was blown up.
And now the red Army started to move again.